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A Deeply Fractured US

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The literal sub-headline is this:



But as for the stats - the one I picked (84% of parents want to know what is in school) links to an opinion piece from the Goldwater Institute…which links to an opinion piece from Newsmax, which links to a poll from Rasmussen, which doesn’t exactly have the most centrist polling.

Fair comment.

Is it possible that other polling by other companies could be biased in the other direction to produce contrary headlines?
 
Fair comment.

Is it possible that other polling by other companies could be biased in the other direction to produce contrary headlines?
There are already a lot of comments about a certain pollster who was on the payroll of Trump Inc while running polls for a major news network…
 

The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back—and Won.​

Last week, a federal appeals court confirmed that science cannot function without free speech. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya reflects on a victory for himself—and every American.

By Jay Bhattacharya
September 11, 2023
 
Change.

Wrote a novel a few years ago which had school voucher issues as a small sub arc. When researching the issue, I found a wonderful 3-part expose published by the Orlando Sentinel at the time (2017) which essentially made it clear that the program facilitated widespread teaching of creationism and other Christian fundamentalism at the cost of roughly US$1 billion of Florida taxpayer money per year. These schools were found to frequently be run by underqualified instructors who use the ACE workbook method of instruction - basically kids spend their days in little cubicle writing in workbooks. While Florida has standards for inspections of schools and teachers the Republican legislature has pretty much barred any oversight of these academies.

Strangely enough the three part series is no longer available on line but I attach a pdf down load of them for anyone interested.

Also see this article


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Attachments

Wrote a novel a few years ago which had school voucher issues as a small sub arc. When researching the issue, I found a wonderful 3-part expose published by the Orlando Sentinel at the time (2017) which essentially made it clear that the program facilitated widespread teaching of creationism and other Christian fundamentalism at the cost of roughly US$1 billion of Florida taxpayer money per year. These schools were found to frequently be run by underqualified instructors who use the ACE workbook method of instruction - basically kids spend their days in little cubicle writing in workbooks. While Florida has standards for inspections of schools and teachers the Republican legislature has pretty much barred any oversight of these academies.

Strangely enough the three part series is no longer available on line but I attach a pdf down load of them for anyone interested.

🍻

I have known a lot of high-functioning creationists in my life. Some of them were even Christian.

Have you ever had an opportunity the laws of Kashruth with a Rabbi and discus how the essence of pork crosses the wall of a stainless steel tank to contaminate the steam being used to heat the kettle. That steam is then unfit for use in the heating of kosher products. The Halal inspector agreed with him.

I have even heard tell of atheists that swear by the healing power of himalayan salt pyramids.

Beliefs are funny things. Everybody has them.
 
Here
I have known a lot of high-functioning creationists in my life. Some of them were even Christian.

Have you ever had an opportunity the laws of Kashruth with a Rabbi and discus how the essence of pork crosses the wall of a stainless steel tank to contaminate the steam being used to heat the kettle. That steam is then unfit for use in the heating of kosher products. The Halal inspector agreed with him.

I have even heard tell of atheists that swear by the healing power of himalayan salt pyramids.

Beliefs are funny things. Everybody has them.
I've discussed programable logic units and high-capacity hog chill freezers with Hutterites but we tended to avoid discussing each others' belief systems. There are many high-functioning people who have faith in any one of many religions or even salt crystals. Most of them were indoctrinated into their faith as impressionable, unquestioning children. Faith prevents a critical questioning of ones belief system. Rejection of the system risks them losing the social web they have around them. Just look at reformed Scientologists.

I don't doubt that the "essence" of pork (via the steam molecules or whatever) can contaminate the surrounding area. I've seen videos of the vapour that leaves a toilet when you flush. What I don't understand is how a dietary concept going back several millennia when food preservation was a challenge, should still dictate what one eats in a modern society. It's the blind, unquestioning obedience to religious dogma, often in the face of demonstrable evidence to the contrary, that concerns me.

To get back to voucher schools - its a back door way to circumvent the 1st amendment.

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Here

I've discussed programable logic units and high-capacity hog chill freezers with Hutterites but we tended to avoid discussing each others' belief systems. There are many high-functioning people who have faith in any one of many religions or even salt crystals. Most of them were indoctrinated into their faith as impressionable, unquestioning children. Faith prevents a critical questioning of ones belief system. Rejection of the system risks them losing the social web they have around them. Just look at reformed Scientologists.

I don't doubt that the "essence" of pork (via the steam molecules or whatever) can contaminate the surrounding area. I've seen videos of the vapour that leaves a toilet when you flush. What I don't understand is how a dietary concept going back several millennia when food preservation was a challenge, should still dictate what one eats in a modern society. It's the blind, unquestioning obedience to religious dogma, often in the face of demonstrable evidence to the contrary, that concerns me.

To get back to voucher schools - its a back door way to circumvent the 1st amendment.

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The 1st amendment was designed to separate state influence on religious belief. It's origin is in the Test Acts that required a specific set of religious beliefs before you qualified for citizenship and public office.

The 1st amendment guaranteed that Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Unitarians and Deists could all hold public office. It was later extended to embrace Jews, Catholics, Muslims and Hindus. Mormons were a late addition.

The point was that anybody of any belief could hold office. The state had no role in determining what was the right belief.
 
The state had no role in determining what was the right belief.
Freedom of religion encompasses freedom from religion. Charter schools are predominantly Christian and fundamentalist. There is nothing wrong with such schools per se if parents or churches paid the freight on them. Using public funds to support them, on the other hand, is a not so subtle way of fostering and establishing a national religion. We're into a high scale wink, wink, nudge, nudge regardless of how much you want to cite Federalists and Methodist. The intents of the framers of the Constitution and its amendments is significantly different from that of various core legislators running amok in the US these days.

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Freedom of religion encompasses freedom from religion. Charter schools are predominantly Christian and fundamentalist. There is nothing wrong with such schools per se if parents or churches paid the freight on them. Using public funds to support them, on the other hand, is a not so subtle way of fostering and establishing a national religion. We're into a high scale wink, wink, nudge, nudge regardless of how much you want to cite Federalists and Methodist. The intents of the framers of the Constitution and its amendments is significantly different from that of various core legislators running amok in the US these days.

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Parents pay taxes. They used to pay school taxes. That was in the days when they controlled how the schools operated in their community. Just like they used to control how the hospitals in their community, which they also paid for, used to operate.

That was the underlying rationale that permitted Catholic schools and hospitals in the English speaking world. If Presbyterians and Methodists could have their own schools and hospitals then they couldn't deny them to Catholics.

And in those days you could shop for the hospital and the school of your choice.

Every Ivy League university in the States started as a sectarian seminary. Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, Quaker....

What used to be a diverse society of beliefs has been homogenized by centralization.
 
All of that was understandable when religious and cultural affiliation played a significant, and open, role in public life; and along with that, the direct involvement of said religious organization(s). Try being a Catholic (or, a Jew for that matter) and hold a high ranking position in Toronto back then. Heck, even into the '70s, being a Mason in the Ontario public service was a big hairy deal. In days of yore, government financial support; i.e. taxation, was considerably more narrow. Institutions like schools and hospitals were very much (or, at least, much more) funded by the communities they served.

Canadian constitutional support for parochial schools was a reflect of those times. The politicians didn't want to touch it in 1982 because it was, and remains in most provinces, political kryptonite. Interestingly, the province that was the main beneficiary of said protection has walked away from it.

If people want to support a school that teaches that man walked with the dinosaurs, fill yer boots, but I don't want to pay for it. The issue simmers in Canada, but is at a full boil in the US. As in many cases, they are much more divided than us.
 
All of that was understandable when religious and cultural affiliation played a significant, and open, role in public life; and along with that, the direct involvement of said religious organization(s). Try being a Catholic (or, a Jew for that matter) and hold a high ranking position in Toronto back then. Heck, even into the '70s, being a Mason in the Ontario public service was a big hairy deal. In days of yore, government financial support; i.e. taxation, was considerably more narrow. Institutions like schools and hospitals were very much (or, at least, much more) funded by the communities they served.

Canadian constitutional support for parochial schools was a reflect of those times. The politicians didn't want to touch it in 1982 because it was, and remains in most provinces, political kryptonite. Interestingly, the province that was the main beneficiary of said protection has walked away from it.

If people want to support a school that teaches that man walked with the dinosaurs, fill yer boots, but I don't want to pay for it. The issue simmers in Canada, but is at a full boil in the US. As in many cases, they are much more divided than us.

The parents of the dinosaur schools dont want to pay for the enlightened or woke schools either. Both sides want their kids to be raised their way and are willing to pay for it. Just like their parents and grandparents did.

Catholic schools weren't created because public schools wouldn't let Catholic kids in. They were created so Catholic kids could be raised as the Catholics their parents wanted them to be. Just like Bishop Strachan created Anglican private schools in opposition to Ryerson's public schools that catered to all the other protestant denominations.

Quebec rejected free public education in the 1800s preferring to pay for their own church based education ... and hospitals.

The relation between parent and child and value transmission is an incredibly tight and ancient one. The children do not belong to the village.
 
The relation between parent and child and value transmission is an incredibly tight and ancient one. The children do not belong to the village.
One could argue that if such a concept is being challenged by exposure to secular science class either the particular relation isn't that tight or the values don't stand up to scrutiny.
 
Here

I've discussed programable logic units and high-capacity hog chill freezers with Hutterites but we tended to avoid discussing each others' belief systems. There are many high-functioning people who have faith in any one of many religions or even salt crystals. Most of them were indoctrinated into their faith as impressionable, unquestioning children. Faith prevents a critical questioning of ones belief system. Rejection of the system risks them losing the social web they have around them. Just look at reformed Scientologists.

I don't doubt that the "essence" of pork (via the steam molecules or whatever) can contaminate the surrounding area. I've seen videos of the vapour that leaves a toilet when you flush. What I don't understand is how a dietary concept going back several millennia when food preservation was a challenge, should still dictate what one eats in a modern society. It's the blind, unquestioning obedience to religious dogma, often in the face of demonstrable evidence to the contrary, that concerns me.

To get back to voucher schools - its a back door way to circumvent the 1st amendment.

🍻
Because "Kosher foods" is a multi-million dollar industry and a way for synagogues to make money. Hence the reason the Muslims are going down the "Halal Certification" route as well. It's not much different that the legal definition of "Organic" in Canada.
 
One could argue that if such a concept is being challenged by exposure to secular science class either the particular relation isn't that tight or the values don't stand up to scrutiny.

Two ancient points of collision

The ability to punch the parents in the nose
The ability to get pregnant.

At that point, usually somewhere around the age of 14, the offspring's opinion outweighs that of the parent.

After that both parent and village are on sufferance.
 
Because "Kosher foods" is a multi-million dollar industry and a way for synagogues to make money. Hence the reason the Muslims are going down the "Halal Certification" route as well. It's not much different that the legal definition of "Organic" in Canada.

It is absolutely a model for organic as well as the various safe foods initiative. But also the Alberta Boiler Safety Act, CSA, UL, Lloyds and DNV.

Private entrepreneurs interpreting codes.
 
Two ancient points of collision

The ability to punch the parents in the nose
The ability to get pregnant.

At that point, usually somewhere around the age of 14, the offspring's opinion outweighs that of the parent.
That only reinforces my point. If a parents "super tight and ancient bond" can't survive contact with conflicting ideas even prior to that/those point(s) of collision...

I had many stimulating conversations with my parents prior to the age of 14. About the nature of what was coming out of school. About the nature of what was coming out of Sunday school. Through the locker room environment of competitive sports. Different exposure levels to content via friends' parents' approaches to parenting. Conflicts, contradictions, carryover of lessons, etc. etc. etc. Some were difficult for them. I'm better for them having the courage to not try to lock me in box to spare themselves difficult conversations.
 
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